Government sources said the proposal is part of ongoing discussions on framing the ‘Energy Conservation Building Code for Residential Sector (ECBC-R)’ on the lines of such a code for government and commercial buildings framed in 2007.

In one-fourth of nearly two lakh villages, which have been declared open defecation free (ODF), all houses don’t have toilets, according to the integrated data that the Centre maintains. Finding this difference, the drinking water and sanitation ministry has asked states to update the data so that there is no mismatch.

The CBI arrested an Army Colonel on Sunday for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a Pune-based private company for the supply of a product which is sent to all field formations of the Indian Army.

Even as Union home minister Rajnath Singh called for talks to end the turmoil in the Hills, the GJM on Sunday resorted to “body politics”. Several thousand GJM supporters marched with the body of 28-year-old Bimal Shashankar, one of the three men killed in Singamari on Saturday, through Darjeeling town, under the hawk eyes of security personnel in riot gear and automatic weapons.

From Rajendra Prasad, the first President, to Pranab Mukherjee, every presidential poll has been challenged in the Supreme Court, except two – those electing S Radhakrishnan and Pratibha Patil. ​​A presidential election can be challenged only in the SC, which sets up a bench of five judges to hear such petitions.

“We have consulted allies and opposition parties in detail. The parliamentary board will now consider possible nominees and announce a decision in the next couple of days,” Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu said on Sunday.

Southwest monsoon rains wreaked havoc in the Northeast, inundating large areas in five districts of Assam, which increased the affected population twofold to a little less than 70,000 with 3,905 people displaced in the last 24 hours.